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The background: a while back I ran out of the nice seasoning salt from the Tickler that I put on my salad, and I was having trouble finding the same brand anywhere that I want to buy from, i.e. not Amazon. Naturally, I've tried making my own. It's OK, but not fantastic. So in my quest to make it fantastic, I thought I'd try MSG, monosodium glutamate.
Good luck finding MSG at any non-Asian grocery store; not even PCC carries it. In case you didn't know, there are long-debunked myths among Westerners about people getting headaches, etc. from MSG. The myths even have a name: "Chinese restaurant syndrome".
After a short bus trip to an Asian grocery store – H Mart, not Uwajimaya, because it was closer – I eventually found MSG. It was a bottle about the size of a salt shaker, made by a big Japanese company, carefully labelled to obscure the presence of MSG: "umami seasoning". I figure Ajinomoto's marketing department knows the score in the US. It's a pity that they have to.
Sez Uncle Wiki, MSG was first isolated in Japan in the late 19th century from a biological source: kombu, a kind of seaweed long used to lend a – wait for it – umami flavor to various dishes.
Also snarfed at H Mart were Shin Black instant ramen (duh) and bonito flakes. That's Christmas dinner, baby.
Good luck finding MSG at any non-Asian grocery store; not even PCC carries it. In case you didn't know, there are long-debunked myths among Westerners about people getting headaches, etc. from MSG. The myths even have a name: "Chinese restaurant syndrome".
After a short bus trip to an Asian grocery store – H Mart, not Uwajimaya, because it was closer – I eventually found MSG. It was a bottle about the size of a salt shaker, made by a big Japanese company, carefully labelled to obscure the presence of MSG: "umami seasoning". I figure Ajinomoto's marketing department knows the score in the US. It's a pity that they have to.
Sez Uncle Wiki, MSG was first isolated in Japan in the late 19th century from a biological source: kombu, a kind of seaweed long used to lend a – wait for it – umami flavor to various dishes.
Also snarfed at H Mart were Shin Black instant ramen (duh) and bonito flakes. That's Christmas dinner, baby.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-20 12:58 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-12-20 08:02 pm (UTC)From:I'd honestly expect that Accent would be available on Amazon but haven't actually looked for it there...
no subject
Date: 2025-12-21 04:43 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-12-22 12:09 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-12-22 02:11 pm (UTC)From:Yup.